MILK HOLIDAY ANNOUNCED Kathmandu, 7 Sept.: Dairy Development Corporation (DDC), a public enterprise, announced a milk holiday from Friday after surpluses in nearly two dozen districts. The Corporation has daily surplus of 25,000 liters of fresh milk Nnnn PRESIDENT TO KEEP ORINANCES ON SHELF Kathmandu, 7 Seot.: President Ram Baran Yadav has decided to keep the ordinances recommended by the government pending for an indefinite period rather than rejecting them, Ananta Raj Luitel writes in The.Himalayan Times. The change in strategy stems from the bid to drag him into controversy when he rejected two election ordinances on August 17. Ten days have passed but the President has not stamped his approval on the Commission on the Inquiry of the Disappeared and Truth and Reconciliation Ordinance, Education (fourth amendment) Ordinance and Civil Service (third amendment) Ordinance, which were sent to him on August 28. The Constitution is not clear on within how many days of receiving the ordinances the President needs to act on them. “How can the President approve the recommendations of the government, which is not keen to forge consensus even after his requests,” a highly-placed source at the Office of the President told The Himalayan Times. The Head of the State invited top leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal of UCPN-Maoist, Sushil Koirala of Nepali Congress, Jhala Nath Khanal of UML and Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar of United Democratic Madhesi Front and urged them to forge consensus among the political parties to find a way out but they did nothing to bail the nation out from the present constitutional and political deadlock. Rajendra Dahal, Press Adviser to the President, said the Office of the President was busy studying the ordinances and testing their constitutionality. On August 17, the President had outright rejected the Election Laws Amendment Ordinance and Constituent Assembly Election Ordinance, stating that they were rendered irrelevant with the Election Commission declaring that there was no possibility to hold November 22 election. National and international human rights organisations have urged the President not to approve the TRC ordinance, as it intended to grant amnesty to the perpetrators of war crimes and it did not intend to provide justice to the victims. DPM Narayan Kaji Shrestha said government would soon react to the President’s move. Nnnn DETAILS OF UML REVIEW OF NATIONAL SCENE ALSO BLAMING ITSELF FOR MESSS Kathmandu, 7 Sept.: Making public its “white paper” about the causes of dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, a CPN-UML taskforce blamed the UCPN-Maoist and its ally – United Democratic Madhesi Front – for the CA’s demise, as the ruling partners “backtracked” from the May 3 and May 15 agreements that “had amicably found ways to adopt the new constitution by May 27, Arjun Bhandari writes in The Himalayan Times.”. “The May 3 and May 15 agreements among the major political parties had created credible bases to conclude the peace process and adopt the new constitution,” the white paper, prepared by UML Secretary Shankar Pokharel-led 17-member taskforce, states. Following the May 15 deal, UML and Nepali Congress had agreed to join the Baburam Bhattarai-led government they had opposed since it came to power on August 28, 2011. Even UCPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had termed the May 15 agreement “historic” in a meeting of the Problem Resolution Sub-Committee he chaired. “But the situation took a new turn on May 17 when, provoked by Dahal himself, ethnic and Madhesi communities took to the streets opposing the deal,” the white paper, submitted to party Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, adds. The deal had agreed that the new constitution would be promulgated incorporating all agreed issues, leaving the contentious ones, particularly the ones related to federalism, to be settled by the “transformed Parliament”. The parties had agreed to form 11 pradeshes, leaving the Central Federal Commission to recommend their names and boundaries subject to be endorsed by the elected Pradesh Sabha. “The Maoist leadership suspiciously changed its mind against the May 15 deal two days later, aborting the possibility of adopting new constitution,” the paper adds. The UML white paper claims that the Maoists used the CA as their “strategic move” to capture the state, not to draft new democratic constitution. But the paper also criticises the UML for not being able to come up with clear idea on federalism and forms of governance. The UML, the paper adds, failed to maintain unity within the party and indulged more in power games than focusing on concluding the peace and constitution-drafting processes. The white paper has suggested drafting new constitution based on the May 15 deal and agreeing on a procedure on federalism subject to ratification by the new elected body. nnnn